Kanda Matsuri

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Watanabe Shozaburo
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo

Source:

Typical Price

Shotei produced a wide range of subjects throughout his career under publishers Watanabe and Daikokuya. Signed, sealed lifetime editions consistently outperform unsigned export-market copies.

Export editions or later printings: $100–$500
Signed lifetime editions: $500–$2,500
Premium impressions with provenance: $2,500–$8,000

Description

The Kanda Matsuri — one of Tokyo's three great shrine festivals, held in alternate years at Kanda Myojin Shrine — was among the most spectacular urban festivals in Japan, its procession of portable shrines, musicians, and costumed participants filling the streets of the old merchant and artisan districts. Shotei renders the festival's street-level energy with the intimate attention to figure and crowd that distinguished his urban subjects from more formal documentary treatments. The festival's deep connections to Edo merchant culture gave it a particular historical resonance.